From 421 - 462

421

MUSIC, a vehicle of Peace, is universally popular.
Men, women and children of all lands are amenable to its subtle influence.
Even animals and plants are susceptible to music. The Lord has said, "Madbhakthash
yathra gaayanthe, thathra thishtaami Naarad": "Where My devotees sing, there
I seat Myself".

422

PEOPLE
of all ages, of all states of health and wealth, of various levels of
learning and intelligence come to Prasanthi Nilayam. This Prasanthi Nilayam
is also the refuge for all who have no other place to go to. Do not treat
any one as an alien. Remember all have Me as their guardian and support.
Have no anger, malice, envy or pride against or before anyone. Be full of
humility; have faith in human goodness.

423

PREMA is the motive power in Karmayoga. It is the
very breath of Bhaktiyoga. It is universal and infinite in Jnana; it sees
the Lord everywhere and in everything, when Vairagya has been achieved. The
Bhagavata is saturated with the sweetness of Prema.

424

VEDANTA is like the roar of the lion; it gives
courage and enterprise; it makes a man hero, it does not whine or howl or
cry; it drives cowardice away, instills the highest types of self-confidence;
it is the strongest armour against the arrows of take; it acts like a
waterproof medium against the hail storms on sensual pleasure; it is a
curtain keeping out the mosquitoes of worry, which would otherwise rob you
of sleep. With a Vedanta- saturated heart, you are a rock on the shore,
unaffected by the waves of temptation. Vedanta challenges your spirit of
adventure and your own reality.

425

THE spiritual laws that the sages of India have discovered and laid
down will never be overruled. They stand valid forever. Further research can
only strengthen and confirm their authenticity, as further facts only render
the diamond more brilliant. Bharath has contributed to the World the
priceless gem of Truth; "Iswarah Darvabhutaanaam Hrddese, Arjuna, Thishtati".
God is the resident motivator of all beings. Until this fact is realised by
the individual he will be tainted by traces of anger, pride and hate, for he
sees others as distinct and different.

426

ALL Religions teach one basic discipline - the
removal of the blemish of egoism from the mind, of running after little joys.
Every Religion teaches man to fill his being with the Glory of God, and
evict the pettiness of conceit. It trains him in methods of detachment and
discrimination, so that he may aim high and attain liberation. Believe that
all hearts are motivated by the one and Only God; that all faiths glorify
the One and the Only God; that all names, in all languages, and all Forms
men can conceive, denote the One and Only God.

427

IF you have the capacity to draw the Lord to
yourself, He will Himself come to you and be with you. Be like the flute - a
hollow reed - straight, light, with no substance to hinder His breath. Then
He will come and pick you up from the ground. He will breathe Divine music
through you, playing upon you with a delicate touch. He will stick the flute
into His sash. He will press His lips on it. In His hand, the Infinitesimal
will be transmuted into the Infinite, the OM will be transformed into the
gama.

428

THE Dharma that is the
heritage of India is the stuff of life for all men. It is the backbone of
morality and well-being. It is the nectar which can confer Immortality.
Others may, in their ignorance, laugh at Indians for taking a stone to be
God. But what they do is to realise even the stone as God. It is transformed
into God, an act which is a grand victory. The highest energies of man in
this land are used for conquering death, while in other countries they are
misused in the diabolic attempt to make weapons of mass destruction.

429

DO not attach yourself too much to this body or to
the things that bring comfort to it. You earn three friends in this life:
the first is the riches you accumulate which refuse to come with you when
you move out of this life. The second, Kith and kin, accompany your body to
the burial ground or cremation ghat. The third, the merit and demerit that
you have earned, accompany you to the last.

430

YOU complain that God is invisible, but the fault is
yours not to recognise God in all His various manifestations. You are
yourself "a manifestation of God". But you do not know it; you call yourself
a sinner, a worm born in sin, wallowing in sin, essentially wicked. But let
someone who takes you at your word call you "Hello, Sinner", you resent it.
Why? Because your real nature is purity, peace, and joy.

431

MAN must earn his birthright, namely "Shanti". "Ashanti"
is for him an unnatural state. His real nature is "Shanti". To recover his
heritage of "Shanti", man tries various methods: accumulation of riches,
maintenance of health, mastery of knowledge and cultivation of the arts. But
these are not fundamental. Three basic wants still remain after all these
methods have been tried: the need for Reality; for Light; and for
Immortality. It is only when "Sath", "Jyothi" and "Amrutham" are won that "Shanti"
will be established.

432

DO not cloud your mind with cheap desires,
transitory hungers, and thirsts that need but morsels or mouthfuls. Yearn
for the enthronement of your soul as the unquestioned monarch of the
Universe, when you merge in the Universal. Celebrate your triumph over the
foes within that hamper your march to victory. Acquire Me as your Charioteer.
I shall lead you to that consummation. Earn that unfailing Grace by your
sincerity, simplicity, and "Sadhana".

433

YOU have two eyes in your Consciousness, namely,
"Sathya" and "Ahimsa". They are the guides which will take you to the goal,
the two lights, the Sun and the Moon of the inner firmament. If you want to
know the way in which you have to observe "Sathya" or Truth in speech, look
into the Gita. It tells you that the best speech is "anudvegakarm Vaakyam".
(Speech that does not create pain or anger or grief to others).

434

RELY on the Lord and accept whatever is your lot. He
is in you, with you. He knows best what to give and when. He is full of
Prema. That is My uniqueness: Prema. Prema is the special gift I bring, the
special medium through which My Grace operates. That is the basis of all My
acts. God is said to reside in everything. Yes. He resides as Prema. Devoid
of Prema, the World becomes a cauldron of misery.

435

BEFORE pointing to the faults of others, examine
yourselves and assure yourselves that you are free from faults. That alone
gives you the right; but the wonder is that you discover faults in others
only when you have faults in you. Once you rid yourselves of faults, all are
pure and good. Whatever you touch becomes gold. That is the Divine Alchemy
of Love, Divine Love, Universal Love, and Love for Love's own sake.

436

TO have faith you must dive deep into the inner
mystery of the Avatars, like Rama or Krishna, and not lose your way in the
tangle of the outer events and emotional conflicts, the external adventures
and activities. Do not take Rama as a brother, son and husband, entangled in
the personal calamity of having his wife kidnapped and heroically rescuing
her. You can be moved into the adoration only by diving into the cool depths
of the inner mystery. This process was specially discovered by the Sages of
the inner mystery. It was specially discovered by the Sages of India, and
so, India rose to the status of the whole World.

437

SINCE I move about with you, eat like you, and talk
with you, you are deluded into the belief that this is but an instance of
common humanity. Be warned against this mistake. I am also deluding you by
My singing with you, talking with you and engaging Myself in activities with
you. But any moment, My Divinity may be revealed to you. You have to be
ready, prepared for that moment. Since Divinity is enveloped by humanness,
you must endeavour to overcome "Maya" (Delusion) that hides it from your
eyes.

438

YOU can hear adoration
to Sathya Sai's Name reverberating throughout the World, even while this
Body is existing - not at some future date, but when It is with you and
before you. And again, you can witness very soon, the restoration of "Sanathana
Dharma", to its genuine and natural status; the "Dharma" laid down in the
Vedas for the good of all the peoples of the World. The revival of Vedic
Dharma is the Sai Sankalpa (the resolve that Sai has), not only drawing
people towards Me, attracting them by the manifestation of My "Shakti"
(Power) and "Samarthya" (Capacity). This is not a "Brahmathathwa" (phenomenon
of delusion). This phenomenon will sustain Truth, it will uproot untruth,
and in that victory, make all of you exult in ecstasy. This is the Sai
Sankalpa.

439

MAN is ill; but he
is resorting to remedies that cannot cure. Diagnose yourself. Discover the
root cause; apply the proper remedy; that is the way of the wise. Do not run
after quacks or pseudo panaceas. Sow the seeds of Prema, after preparing the
soil of you heart, and removing the weeds. Let them grow, watered by Faith
and yield the blossoms of "Sahana" (fortitude); later you are assured of the
fruit, "Shanti". This is the task; this is the duty; and this has to be the
vow.

440

WHEN a Namavali extols
Shiva, the next one will have to be on Krishna, the next on Rama and so on.
A person whose favourite form is Rama or Shiva will feel neglected if, out
of inadvertence, you stick to only one form. Let the atmosphere of Bhajan be
free from competitive conceit and fanaticism. This is My advice.

441

YOU are only actors on the stage before the
footlights. The Director, who knows the Play, who assigns the roles, who
gives the cues, who calls you in and puts you on, is behind the curtain. You
are a puppet; He holds the strings. If He must be seen, you have to be His "Sakhaa"
(friend) or "Bandhu" (kinsman). Merely being an onlooker will not entitle
you to approach Him and be in His holy company. Cultivate His friendship or
kinship by the attitude of Love and Dedicated Service.

442

TO realise the One, the Universal Absolute, which
personalizes itself into God and creation, there is no discipline more
valuable and more effective than Seva. All the 1008 Names of the 1000-faced
Society connote only the One God that plays in those 1000 roles. The One
appears as if it is enshrined in the 1000 bodies. This is the Truth you have
to realise and cherish as the most precious in life.

443

MAN cannot reap the full fruits of his life here
below if he only gathers riches or collects popular votes, or loads his head
with tons of tomes. He has to cultivate and practice virtues too. He has to
adhere to Dharma. The Sruthis direct that man has to earn just enough for
his upkeep by honest means and use the rest of his time and skill for the
general good, Dharma-Artha. Earn Artha through Dharma. Then he will
certainly have plenty of Divine Grace.

444

ONE gets the liberating Wisdom of the Reality
through Grace, Prayer, or Prema. You cannot achieve the Goal through good
works alone. In good, there is an extra "O", something that is a mere Zero;
that is to say, the desire which prompts you, the fruit that entices you,
the reputation that tantalizes you - these are all sheer zeros, a big 0.
Leave it off and then we have God who is Zeroless, with no self intruding.
That is to say, we have God. Desire plus Life is Man. Life minus Desire is
God.

445

YOU have to busy
yourselves with activity in order to use time and skill to the best
advantage. That is your Duty and Duty is God. The dull and the inert will
hesitate to be active for fear of exhaustion or failure or loss. The
emotional, passionate individuals will plunge headlong and crave for quick
results, and will be disappointed if they do not come in. The balanced
persons will be active because it is their duty. They will not be agitated
by anything - failure or success. The Godly will take up activity as a means
of worshipping God; and they leave the result to God. They know that they
are but instruments in the hands of God.

446

INTELLECT alone can direct man in the path of
discrimination, between the true path and the false, the proper step and the
improper. This is the reason why man has been praying since Ages through the
Gayatri hymn; "Illumine me and prompt my intelligence so that I may walk
aright".

447

MAN loses his status
of humanness through acts that shame even the beasts. He does not strive
towards revealing and manifesting his latent Divinity! That is not as big a
failing as this sliding back into the animal from which he rose! If he keeps
on with his human attributes and capacities, that will serve him well enough.
A formidable list can be made of the inadequacies and defects of man but,
the basic defect is greed; "Uncontrolled desire", always clamouring for
more, as a result of the ceaseless prompting of the senses.

448

THE human body is a temple chariot; the Atma is
installed therein; and it is dragged by emotions, impulses, passions and
urges, along the streets of desire. Success and failure, joy and grief, gain
and loss are the dancers who accompany this procession of Life. Here too,
many pour their attention only on the chariot; its height, its decoration
and its progress. Many others are concerned with the dance of duality and
the pain-pleasure duet, that is part of the procession. Few pay attention to
the Atma, the Crown and Consummation of human existence.

449

SAGES and Saints have known that the most noteworthy
achievement of the senses of man is the glorification of the God within. "They
are not eyes, they are but globules of glass, that do not earn a vision of
God", says one. "They are not ears, they are but muscular protrusions that
do not relish the praise of God" says another. Surdas condemns the hand that
does not worship God and calls such hands "sticks of wood". The World and
its attractions may appeal to your instincts and impulses but, God draws out
your Love, as no worldly being can. Develop the inner vision and the habit
of listening to the inner Voice; and you are assured of unshakable Peace and
infinite Joy.

450

LIVE without
hating others, condemning others and seeking faults in others. Vyasa, who
wrote eighteen voluminous Puranas, summarised all the Puranas in one single
line of a small couplet: "Doing good to others is the only meritorious act;
doing evil is the most heinous sin". When you feel you cannot do good, at
least desist from doing evil. That itself is meritorious service! Do not try
to discover differences; discover unity. Creeds, castes and country of
origin may differ; but the inner hunger is the same for all mankind.

451

CONSIDER the word "Nara", which denotes "man". Of
these two syllables "ra" means decline, decay, destruction and death. "Na"
means "without". Man or Nara has no decay, he is immortal as God, for he is
God. It is pitiable that man is misled to believe that he is the decaying,
daily dying physical frame. Whereas "Nara" means Man, "Narayana" is the name
for God. Nara symbolises the five constituents of the Cosmos; the five
Bhoothas (projections, elements), which emanated from God to form the Cosmos.
The expression Narayana, which is used in the Scriptures, implies that Nara
is Narayana.

452

THE spark of Love
in you has to be cherished and fed, so that it may reach God. Then, every
being will be God, every act will be Divine, every reaction you get from the
outside world will be charged with Prema and sweetened with nectar. You love
the God in all beings and the God in all beings responds with Love. Love God,
though tribulation may be your lot. Love Him, though you are refused and
rebuked. For it is only in the crucible of travail that the metal is
purified and cleared of blemish. Adoration of God has to be through one name
and one form; but, that should not limit your loyalty to that particular
province only.

453

THE Dominion of God is without horizon. It envelops space and goes even beyond it. So do not
allow the needs of worship or puja to put blinkers on your eyes. Do not have
other names or other forms of the same Supra-Cosmic Magnificence, the
Purushottama. For hate breeds fear. Hate is the seedbed of anxiety, scandal,
and falsehood. It drains your mind of peace. You may have light without oil,
fire without smoke, breeze without a bearer fanning you, a chilliness in the
air of your room in the sizzling heat of summer. Unless you are at peace
with yourselves and with those around you, your pulse will be quick and your
blood will be racing in rage and rancour. Love alone can alleviate anxiety
and allay fear.

454

PREMA, when
you cultivate it, will remove the weeds of anger and malice. It will blossom
into peace and calm. My teaching is Prema. My message is Prema. My activity
is Prema; and My way of living is Prema. There is nothing more precious than
Love within human grasp.

455

BHARATH is the birthplace of the Vedas and of the Shastras, Epics and
Puranas that have elaborated the principles enunciated therein for the
education of the common man. It is the nursery of music and other fine arts,
inspired by the noble passion of consecrating human skills for adoring the
Divine and communicating the super sensuous. It is the stuff and sustenance
of the mystic and the ascetic, the intellectual and the dynamic adorer of
God. It is the field where the Science of Yoga was cultivated and
systematized.

456

WHO is Baba? Who
am I? And the answer is: I am the reflected image of Baba. Baba is the
original of which I am the reflection. That is the relationship. That is the
bond, whether you know it or not. Whether the image is distorted or correct,
you do "Dhyana" morning and evening; you do "Japam", you engage yourself in
"Sravanam", "Kirtanam", "Padasevanam", "Vandanam", "Dasyam", "Archanam", "Sakhyam"
and "Atmanivedanam" - all for realising that you are but an image to become
a clean, clear image of the Lord; so clean and clear that you merge in Him.

457

ENDURANCE, with joyful resignation of the ups
and downs of life, is the royal road to Peace. Everyone craves "Sukha" and "Shanti";
but there is no one to instruct Youth how to win them. The Ramayana and the
Mahabharatha are reservoirs of Knowledge for the seekers of Peace. They are
replete with examples and precepts which are inspiring and timely. By taking
the teachings to heart, Purity can be attained. The pure heart directed
towards God and reflecting His image is indeed Heaven, Vaikunta, or Kailasa.

458

LIVING under the impression that you are the body
and you are destroyed with the death of the body is an illusion which is
basically undesirable. Another illusion is that happiness consists in
accumulating money, knowledge, comforts, or reputation. Trying to be happy
through such accumulation is like getting into the Madras bus and hoping to
reach Bangalore. What is happiness? It is the state of mind which is, by
fortune, good or bad. By systematic education, the mind can attain the
state. If activity is done as worship, then the mind can attain the state.
If activity is done as worship, then the mind will be steady and free from
anxiety.

459

THE word Hindu means
those who keep away from the path of violence, away from inflicting injury
on others, Hin (Hinsa - Injury; Violence); du (dura-away, distant) The
Shastras declare that the essence of all the 18 Puranas, so highly revered
in India, is: Merit is when you do good to another; Sin is when you do evil
to another. When you are fixed in this path, you will welcome all Faiths and
Religions as kith and kin. All Faiths attempt to train man along the path.
Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Jews, Parsis, all aspire to win the same
illumination, through the cleansing of the mind by means of good work.

460

WHEN a tree first shoots forth from the seed, it
comes up with a stem and two incipient leaves! But later, when it grows, the
trunk is one, and the branches are many! Each branch may be thick enough to
be called a trunk but, one should not forget that the roots send food as sap
through one single trunk. God, the same God, feeds the spiritual hunger of
all nations and all faiths, through the common sustenance of truth, virtue,
humility and sacrifice.

461

BRAHMA'S lotus is not the stalk that grows in mud and rises above the waters
to catch the rays of the sun and blossom but, the many petalled lotus of the
Heart, each petal being the direction in which a particular tendency
attracts the individual. The Bull on which Siva is said to ride is not the
animal called by that name but, the symbol of Dharma or Righteousness which
has the four legs; "Sathya", "Dharma", "Shanthi" and "Prema". Gopala did not
graze cattle but, protected and fed "Jivis", known also as "Go". In the
study of the Veda, you should look for the meaning which satisfies the head.

462

THIS Nilayam is "Prasanthi Nilayam". It is the abode
of the highest form of Shanti - Prasanthi. In fact, you are, each one of you,
the Nilayam of Prasanthi. That is why, I very often address you as "Shanti
Swarupulaara". My object is to remind you that your real nature is Shanti,
equanimity, peace, unruffledness and non-attachment. You cannot draw out
from within you that which is not there. Therefore, Shanthi must be deep
down, at the very core of your being.